Why someone abandons a purchase? The reasons may surprise you...

In my previous post, I wrote how most of the sales process has less to do with convincing someone to purchase and more about painting a picture for him about what life would be like after purchase. 

No one can be forced to buy anything. People often will abandon a sale for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with the item being sold.

How many times have you abandoned a purchase for a reason that had nothing to do with a product?

• You got busy with something else and simply forgot to purchase.
• It was too difficult to buy something online so you bailed on it.
• You couldn't get to the store in time, so you gave up.
• You just didn't want to cut something out of your life to afford a new car or trip.
• Your team decided to spend money to do something else.
• You got paid 3 days after a sale and just didn't have the money on-hand at the time.

Yes - the reasons not to buy something can be THAT SIMPLE.

We never tell these reasons to a sales person, though, because it is embarrassing. We lie to make ourselve sound better. We don't want people to know we don't have the money or faulty memories or whatever. So sales tells marketing the lies and we all believe those lies to be true.

If we are real with ourselves, we know those aren't the true reasons. The true reasons have NOTHING to do with the product. They have to do with the buyer and his personal situation. 

So what does it mean to paint a picture for someone about what life would be like after purchasing an object? Marketers reach to content marketing to solve that.  

And yes - content marketing can influence a buyer and fill-in blanks. However, the key to selling is finding that one outlook change that will push someone over the edge to buy. This changes from person to person, company to company. It could be money, prestige, group thinking. It's up to marketing and sales to figure out what that is.

Here are some things people are thinking about during a purchase - thoughts that could cause resistance during the sales process. I'm sure there are more questions, but its a start of a list.

Feel free to add in the comments. I'm sure there are other factors that are considered during a purchase.

Outward Personal status and appearance

For Fashion/Clothing/Look-related

• How will I feel wearing this? How will people perceive me when I own this? 
• Does this object go with my personality? Is this something I will wear/use/sport? 
• Is this pushing my boundaries too much? Will I regret this purchase later?

Other Objects

• Will my friends make fun of me if I buy this? Will I be perceived as cool? Will I be envied?
• Will people respect me more because I own this? 
• If I don't buy this and pass, what will people say?
• Will I want to show this off to people? 

For Work purchases:

• If we buy it and it is seen as "successful": will people in my company think highly of me because I suggested we buy this and got it implemented? 
• If it fails: How will people see me if this isn't the right fit for us? Will I be outcast? I'm afraid of how my team will perceive me.

Personal feelings

• Once I have this object, will I be happy for at least a little while? Will I feel satisfied?
• How will I feel about myself with this object? Will I feel like I achieved something big? Or that I sold out and got a knock-off?  
• If my team buys into this, how will I feel about that? Will I feel more accepted?

Using the object

• Do I need this? Do I have something else I could use for the same purpose at home?
• What can I use it for? Will it help me achieve my goals? How will I feel once I have this task done in an easier way? Will I save time to do other things?
• Will I enjoy using this object? Will it give me some type of joy?
• Will some tasks be simpler with this gadget? Will I be able to do things I couldn't do before?
• What's the true value of this object? How will it contribute to my life?
• Will this object help my company with their goals? Will it save them money? Or time? How will this product contribute to the bottom line?
• Will this object help me reduce other costs?
• Do I need supporting products to get this do what I want it to do? Do I need to buy anything else with this?

Product Quality

• How long will this last? Will I need a replacement quickly?
• Is there a guarantee with it? Or a warranty? I don't want to have to fix something I just bought that broke.
• Is it constructed well? Are there any defects?
• Will it be easy to return if I buy it and not like it? What if it doesn't fit me well (size, personality)? 
• Does the store back the quality of its products?

Relationship with the sales person

• Is this person really helping me and showing me the value of this object? Or is he just hounding me for a sale?
• If he just wants to sell this object to me, is there something wrong with it? Why the rush? Does he get a better commission? Is this something that is closing out as a model? Am I getting sold a bum deal?
• Am I learning anything from this person? Does he have knowledge about this object and the subject matter around it? Or does he only know about this 1 object. 

Financials

Personal

• Would I need to give up anything in my life to purchase this? 
• Will I save money if I buy this? Will this cost a lot of money to maintain?
• Is this an investment or a true expense?

Professional:

• Do we have enough budget to purchase this? What if we purchased something cheaper? Could we get both projects purchased?
• Will this object help me reduce costs in general?
• Will it cost me money in maintenance?
• Will it cost me a lot of money to operate this? 

Going into the future....2 years, 5 years, more years after purchase

• Will I be happy with this in 2 years? Will it last 2 years? Will it last longer? Is it quality construction?
• Is there a warranty? Do I need a warranty? A guarantee?
• Will it require a lot of maintenance?

 

And yes, this gets into buyers journeys and the like. Anything else people think about during a purchase? I'm curious what your thoughts are.